Tourism is Bali’s big industry where there’s much money to be made, but those working on the island as guides and tour operators fear they’re being inched out by the underground, unlicensed market.
“I hope the Bali provincial government and relevant agencies will act immediately to curb illegal tour guides, because they’re bad for Bali tourism,” Yohanes, a manager who works with Chinese tourists, told Bisnis.com on Tuesday. (Aka they are bad for people like Yohanes who must compete with them.)
The number of “illegal” tour packages geared towards Chinese tourists is rampant in Bali, according to Yohanes, who says these packages don’t have offices or permits in Bali and most operate via the internet.
“They undermine the market price by posting cheap prices for tour packages, so a lot of travelers use them,” he said.
For instance, a travel package including a cruise to Nusa Lembongan usually sells for USD 130 per person, but some illegal operators will reduce the price to USD 80 per person, according to Yohanes. And guess which operator tourists are more likely to pick?
Many of these unlicensed operators and guides are actually said to be Chinese themselves, working illegally on visa on arrivals.
The Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) has previously urged Bali’s provincial government to form a task force to curb illegal foreign workers from China.
“They often come and illegally practice as tour guides or travel agents in Bali. Because of the data and our observations, many of them claim to be tourists from China, but in fact, they work in Bali such as tour guides, selling tour packages online for very cheap,” said Chandra Salim of the ASITA China Committee.
